Chapter Text
December 30, 20XX
Mako never expected to fall into a pattern with anyone, much less his idiot neighbor from the floor above. It feels nice for things to be so easy, so simple.
Jamison hears him get home in the evenings and comes down to hang out and watch TV.
Tonight, he brings Chinese and presses into Mako’s side once they’ve both finished their food. It’s another pattern, and as Jamison hands him a fortune cookie, Mako finds himself smiling.
A friend is a present you give yourself.
Mako snorts and tosses the fortune on the table before shifting to relax with his arm across the back of the couch.
Jamison is nestled in close to Mako’s side, and he resists the urge to rest his arm around Jamison’s back. After the second movie, Jamison starts checking his watch.
Mako nudges him around the third time it happened and raised his brow. “You got somewhere you need to be?” he asks.
Jamison’s face goes white and he shakes his head. “Nah, mate. Just… ah… used to… double checking if I gotta bolt.”
Mako snorts and finally lets his arm drop to Jamison’s shoulders. “Relax,” Mako tells him.
Jamie fairly melts into him, and Mako is suddenly very aware of his own heart beat. He wonders if Jamie can feel it through the thick layer of muscle and fat he’s cuddling into.
Halfway through the third movie, Jamison starts checking his watch again and Mako feels the rush of closeness fade. Maybe he really did want to leave—
Just as he’s having the thought, Jamison checks his watch one last time, then twists around and leans up to press his lips to Mako’s.
Mako’s mind goes blank. When he feels Jamison’s lips part, he grabs the back of his shirt and hauls him back.
Jamison’s face goes red and he jolts forward, trying to pull away from the hand on his shirt. “Fuck, that was stupid, I know. I know it was dumb, I’m sorry!”
Mako opens his mouth, but doesn’t know what to say. Jamison keeps babbling, and Mako presses his other hand to Jamison’s mouth to get him to stop.
“Jamison…” he begins, trying to figure out what the fuck he wants to say.
Jamison stops fighting his hold and just sits on the couch with his hands over his face. He’s trembling.
Mako lets him go and pulls Jamison’s hands away from his face. “Listen,” he tells him. “I don’t mind.” Jamison uncurls a bit. “I was just surprised.” Jamison looks up at Mako like he’s still expecting him to somehow rip him in half via his arms.
“You don’t mind like we can just never talk about it again or you don’t mind like…” Jamison stops talking and his eyebrows raise up nearly to his hairline.
“I don’t mind like…” Mako feels his throat close up on the words and he doesn’t understand why it’s so hard to say he wouldn’t mind Jamison kissing him again. So, instead, he pulls Jamison closer and leans in to press their lips together again.
Jamison lets out a soft giggle against Mako’s lips, and when he pulls back, they’re both smiling. It feels silly that he didn’t want to admit he wanted this. Wants this.
“Happy New Year,” Jamison says with a grin.
Mako raises his brow and then laughs and drags Jamison closer.
Jamison rests his hands on Mako’s shoulders and then pulls himself onto Mako’s lap. Mako settles his hands on his hips.
“You know it’s December 31st, right?” He points out.
“It was,” Jamie says. “Now it’s January.”
He says it with so much conviction and presses so sweet a kiss to Mako’s lips that he doesn’t want to correct him. “No,” he says anyway. “Yesterday was the 30th.”
Jamison’s eyes get wide. He bails out of Mako’s lap and hurdles the table, headed for the door. “Fuck, I work tonight, then! I’m late!”
Mako laughs and rubs his face. Of course they kiss and Jamison has to fuck off to work.
The door slams behind Jamison, then opens again and Mako uncovers his face to turn his attention to the door.
“Pick this up tonight?” Jamison asks hopefully.
Mako smiles and huffs out a laugh. “Wake me up when you get home,” he tells him.
Jamison nods and grins. “Right.” Then the door closes and Mako is alone in his apartment with a movie he’s lost his place in and the strange tingle of a recent kiss.